The Matthew Ministry
How Do We Get Hurt?
Generally speaking, we can be abused or neglected physically or emotionally. We can be hurt when people do bad things to us (abuse); or when adults that are responsible for us fail to provide for our needs (neglect).
These wounds happen even when the person doing them does not mean to harm or hurt us. It is our perception about the incident that causes the pain. We beleive that we are bad, because we are being treated badly.
Types of physical abuse are hitting, slapping, rape/molestation, and/or being forced to do things against our will.
Some types of emotional abuse are being told you are dumb, worthless, or no good, being used to provide emotional support for a parent or grandparent, etc.
Some types of physical neglect would include: not having a place to live, food to eat, clothes, and health care. Emotional neglect is when the responsible adults in our life don’t support us emotionally with praise, attention or a sense of being loved.
